Egg Roll – Kolkata’s favourite food

Nostalgia has few names for me, and one of them is Kolkata Street Food. The spicy, tangy, sweet and sometimes slightly questionable, road-side snacks screams my childhood to me. It takes me back to those care-free young days of my life when I could just walk out of the door in the late afternoon for some phuchka (pani-puri) indulgence, or those Durga Puja days when counting the number of those ‘spicy crispy balls dipped in tamarind water‘ was absolutely forbidden! The rule was-the more the better! Haha!

Today I am going to make a famous Kolkata Style Egg Roll…which is super easy to make and is a great tummy filler when those hunger pangs strike.

As I am writing this, I am recollecting all those early evenings when my mother would effortlessly make this recipe for me and my sister, hungry from school, and the whole house would smell of such yumminess and comfort….Oh ok I should start with the recipe already…

Egg Roll is basically is a flaky, crispy rolled flour paratha, filled with a layer of egg, with some chopped cucumber, onion and chili dressed with tomato ketchup or lemon juice.

Serves – 2 hungry stomachs

Ingredients I needed:

Wholemeal wraps/tortillas (store bought, but very easy to make at home also with flour, pinch of salt, little vegetable oil) – keeps the dish healthy too compared to the fried parathas in Kolkata

Eggs – I used one for each roll

1 cucumber – cut into very small dices

1 small onion – cut into small dices

chopped green chilli – as per choice

salt, pepper – as per taste

lemon juice – 1 lemon

Tomato Chilli Sauce/ketchup – as per choice

Canola Oil – 1 tablespoon

How to make:

Heat up a pan with canola (any vegetable) oil. Break the egg into it and put a wrap on top and let the egg cook over medium heat. Once the side is done, flip it over and cook the other side of the wrap.

Take the wrap off the heat, add the cucumber, onion, green chilli, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Tomato chilli sauce / ketchup can be added too.

That’s it and let me tell you, it tastes amazing! Ridiculously simple recipe (more so if the wrap is from the store) for people like me who wants an effortless great meal prepared in less than 10 minutes.

Options for a great roll are endless – stuff it with chicken pieces (grilled or tandoori just makes it divine – I amsalivating already), lamb pieces, minced meat for something more filling. A small tip is to soak the onion slices in vinegar to lend the right amount of tartness.

Hope you guys have a great weekend and let me get back to enjoying my nostalgia with a piping hot cup of Darjeeling tea.